ARCHIVED - Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat - 2013–14 Report on Plans and Priorities

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Organizational Overview

Expenditure Profile

For fiscal year 2013–14, the Secretariat's total planned spending is $5.66 billion. This includes $3.1 billion in centrally managed funds used to supplement other appropriations. The balance, $2.51 billion, is mostly related to Program 5: Government-Wide Funds and Public Service Employer Payments for the Treasury Board's role as employer of the core public administration ($2.27 billion). These funds are used for the following: 

• The public service pension, benefits, and insurance, including payment of the employer's share of health, income maintenance, and life insurance premiums;
• Payments to, or in respect of, provincial health insurance;
• Payments of provincial payroll taxes and Québec sales tax on insurance premiums; and
• The return to certain employees of their share of the employment insurance premium reduction.

The remaining amount ($0.24 billion) is directly related to the operations of the Secretariat and its five other programs: Management Frameworks, People Management, Expenditure Management, Financial Management and Internal Services.

Departmental Spending Trend

The figure below illustrates the Secretariat's financial trend from 2009–10 to 2015–16 for the operations of the Secretariat and the following five programs: Management Frameworks, People Management, Expenditure Management, Financial Management and Internal Services. These operations reflect the people and activities that support the Secretariat's strategic outcome of ensuring that government is well managed and accountable and that resources are allocated to achieve results.

The Secretariat's actual spending increased from 2010–11 to 2011–12 by approximately $26.2 million, largely due to increases related to the following one-time expenditures:

• Disbursement of severance cash-outs by employees, pursuant to collective agreements that eliminated future severance pay accumulation; and
• Professional services costs for external experts to support the review of departmental spending across government.

These increases were offset by reductions, largely due to the following:

• 2010 Strategic Review decisions;
• A transfer to Shared Services Canada;
• Cost-containment measures announced in previous federal budgets; and
• The ending of funding related to time-limited initiatives.

The Secretariat's planned spending will decrease from 2011–12 to 2012–13 by approximately $28.6 million, due to the reductions mentioned above and to Budget 2012 cost-containment measures. This decrease is partially offset by increased funding for litigation management for Charter challenges and initiatives related to workplace operations.

The Secretariat's planned spending will decrease between 2012–13 and 2015–16 by approximately $53.6 million due to the implementation of the Strategic Review and cost-containment measures mentioned above, the ending of time-limited initiatives, and a transfer to Public Works and Government Services Canada for the Pay Consolidation Project.

Expenditure Restraint Measures

As mentioned above, the Secretariat's spending has been reduced by various expenditure restraint measures. Specifically, the 2010 Strategic Review will provide $11.5 million in ongoing savings by 2013–14. The Budget 2012 cost-containment measures have resulted in savings of $7.6 million in 2012–13, and savings will increase to $15.1 million in 2013–14 and to $23.6 million of cumulative ongoing savings (including 178 positions) by 2014–15. In addition, a total of $10.6 million (including 45 positions) has been provided to Shared Services Canada as a result of responsibilities transferred to the new organization. Over the past few years, measures to increase operational efficiency have also been undertaken to position the Secretariat to operate within reduced resource levels.

The amounts presented in the preceding graph relate to the public service employer payments, which include the payment of the employer's share of contributions required under the various insurance plans sponsored by the Government of Canada.

After an adjustment for a reversal of charges for 2009–10 of approximately $62 million, ^{See footnote [2]} the net public service employer payments decreased by approximately $38 million from 2009–10 to 2010–11, largely due to the premium holidays under Disability Insurance and a reduction in payments for provincial payroll taxes.

Public service employer payments increased by approximately $224 million from 2010–11 to 2011–12 as a result of a one-time lump sum payment for improvement of long-term disability benefits provided under the Service Income Security Insurance Plan (SISIP) for Regular Forces and Primary Reserve Forces and increased costs for the Public Service Health Care Plan (PSHCP), the Public Service Dental Care Plan, the Pensioners' Dental Services Plan, Disability Insurance and payroll taxes. These increases were offset by the transfer of the costs related to management of pension, insurance and social security programs for locally engaged staff from the Secretariat to Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada and to National Defence.

Based on approved authorities, planned spending for 2012–13 is $84 million higher than actual 2011–12 spending. However, the latest forecasts for 2012–13 for public service insurance show a decrease from 2011–12 actual expenditures of $64 million. This is mainly due to a non-recurring payment under the SISIP and is offset by projected expenditures under various group insurance and benefit plans. Although planned spending, which is based upon approved authorities from 2013–14 to 2015–16, is relatively stable, it is premature to draw trend conclusions at this time.

Estimates by Vote

For information on our organizational appropriations, please see the 2013–14 Main Estimates publication.

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